Harris by-mail ballots streamlined by state bill

Ballots mailed to Harris County voters would be confined to the language requested by the voter, under a bill filed in Austin.

Changes could be coming for the bill, HB 986, filed by Rep. Gary Elkins, R- Houston, at the behest of Harris County election officials. Currently, ballots mailed to voters arrive in four languages, leading to duplicative and unnecessary printing and postage costs, officials said.

Elkins’ bill would change that by asking the voter to specify a language preference. That way, a single ballot and instructions can be sent in either English, Spanish, Chinese or Vietnamese.

Election operators send an English ballot and one in another language if they suspect the second ballot is needed, Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart said. That non-English ballot can add 20 cents to the postal cost, if it increases the weight to more than two ounces, and also leads to additional printing of ballot pages.

Sending one ballot eliminates some of the waste, Stanart said. The county mailed 90,000 ballots for the November 2012 election.

“It all adds up,” he said. “Any time we can save anywhere, anyhow, we’re always looking at ways to save the taxpayer’s dollars.”

If no box is checked, the bill specifies that an English ballot is sent. That provision has drawn criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union as potentially disenfranchising non-English speaking voters, Elkins’ office said.

Questions also were raised about sending only one language. Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, explained Chinese-speaking voters in Harris County recently received their own ballots, and have swelled their voting numbers as a result. Wu said many older Chinese voters rely on younger relatives to help them navigate the ballot.

The bill would apply only to counties that are required to print ballots in two languages other than English. Harris County is one of three counties that presently prints ballots in four languages, based on demand. The other two are far western counties, sparsely populated, that must offer ballots in Native American languages, Johnson said.

Any change to state election practices pertaining to mail-in ballot availability would be subject to U.S. Justice Department approval, under the guidelines of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.